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UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

J. ORITCHERSON AND E. S. 'MOULTON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR SPLITTING WELTS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,558, dated September 2'?, 1859.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN CRITCI-IERSN land ERI S. MoULToN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for Splitting Velts; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side view; Fig. 2, a top view; Fig. 3, a detached view of one of the adjustable arms to which the cutter is conned; and Fig. 4 is a front view of the grooved cylinders.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters in all the drawings.

The nature of our invention consists in arranging an adjustable cutter between, and parallel with, two cylinders grooved in a peculiar manner,-the grooves on the cylinder, to which the crank is attached, being provided with short projecting points, or their equivalents, to prevent the leather from slipping; by which means welts can be split more evenly, more rapidly, and with less effort and waste of leather, than by any other mechanism with which I am acquainted.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is a platform, of wood or metal, which may be confined to a bench or table,- by means of screws or nails.

B, B, are studs, the lower ends of which are fastened to the platform, A; or both the platform and studs, if made of metal, may be in a single piece.

C is a cylinder, of wood or metal, provided with an aXle, c, which passes through, and turns in, suitable boxes, or bearings, in the studs, B, B, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

E is a crank by means of which the cylinder, C, is rotated.

D is a smaller cylinder arranged, as shown in Figs l and 4, so as to bear on the larger cylinder, O.

d is the axle of cylinder, D, and turns in oblong slots at the upper ends of the studs, B, B, as seen in Fig. l; said cylinder, D,

being pressed upon C by means of the heli? cal springs, f, the lower ends of which rest on the movable caps, e.

F, F are arms attached to t-he studs, B, and projecting back of them as represented in Fig. l.

G, G, are the adjustable arms, a ltop View of one of which is shown in Fig.

g is a small pin passing through the outer ends of the arms, F, F, and G Gr, forming a pivot, or axle, on which the latter may turn a litt-le for the purpose of adjusting the cutter, H, which (being provided, as seen in Fig. 2, with slots, h, h) is confined to the upper sides of the inner ends of the arms,

Gr, by means of screws.

I and J are set screws, passing through ears, that project from the inner side of the arms, F, at the top and bottom,the end of screw, J, bea-ring on the top of the cutter, H, or arms, and the end of the screw, I, bearing against the Linder side of G; the design of said screws being to hold the cutter, H, in place, and raise it, or lower it, as may be required for splitting welts of different thickness.

The grooves, m and n, on the larger cylinder, C, are furnished with pointed pins projecting, as shown in Fig. 2, about the siX- f teenth of an inch, to prevent the welts from slipping when forced against the edge of the cutter. Groove m is intended to be about as deep and wide as an ordinary welt before it is split, and is designed to be used for skiving7 the welt, or reducing it to an equal thickness, previous to being split; and as the cutter, H, can be brought nearer to the bottom of groove, m, or farther from it, by means of the adjusting screws, I and J, the welt can be made thicker, or thinner, as may be required.

n is a beveled groove in cylinder, C, the shape of which is shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

is a groove in cylinder, D, similar to groove, n, and arranged directly over it, as shown in Fig. 4; the two grooves coming together, forming a rhomboid of which the edge of the cutter, H, is a diagonal, as will be seen by inspecting Fig. 4. Thus, whatever the thickness of the welt, it will (if the cutter is properly adjusted) be split into two equal parts, and much more accurately than can be done in the usual manner, i. c. by drawing the welt, (held by nippers in one hand,) against a knife (held in the other hand) upon a grooved board, which operation requires very considerable physical force, stretches, and often breaks, the leather,

and usually involves the necessity of losing l very useful improvement in the art for a short piece at the end of every Welt, owing to the bite of the nippers as Well as the unequal cut at the beginning of the operation; Whereas in our machine, by means of the long crank, E, the leather is carried through between the cylinders and against the cutter, with comparatively little exertion, While the points in the grooves, m, n, force the Welt against the edge of the cutter so as to split the very end as evenly as any other part, and the Whole of it without stretching or breaking.

The Whole machine is very simple, cheap,

15 and easily kept in repair, and constitutes a which it is designed.

What We claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The beveled grooves, f/L and ae, constructed, and arranged in reference to each other on the cylinders, C and D, and operating in combination with the adjustable cutter, H, substantially as set forth and for the purposes described.

JOHN CRITCHERSON. ERI S. MOULTON. Witnesses:

GEO. P. ToWLE, N. AMES. 

